A noob's perspective on what to do with the Deathslinger

I'll start off by saying I'm pretty new to this game and it's community. I yoinked it on the last day of the Steam Summer Sale (2022) and have been playing it almost everyday since. Currently at 89 hours according to Steam so I won't claim to have an at all expert level grasp on the game's mechanics or balancing.

With that said the Deathslinger in his current state is my favorite killer I've tried. I think he's really fun to use, it's really rewarding to pick your shots and shut down simple loops. But apparently he's not worth using anymore. I've only faced him as survivor once and we won all 4 in that game.

I won't pretend to know exactly why that is but I've boiled it down to people despising the nerf he got last year. So maybe he could use a tiny buff. Some people are just calling for the nerf to be removed. As someone who never used old 'slinger I don't see the big deal with the quickscope nerf (maybe the ADS animation could be a TINY fraction of a second shorter but I think that was a necessary change). I get about 2/3rds of my shots in a game with clearly experienced players. So instead of making a call to revert that change I have a different proposal:

What if he could move faster (perhaps just slightly, and not while carrying a survivor) if he kept The Redeemer unloaded. This would give him an option to search around the map with more haste, at the cost of not being instantly ready to chain someone should he come across a target before he reached his destination. I think it would be a decent way to give him back some "Map Pressure" if I'm using that term correctly.

In addition to that, give him *some* of his ambush-ability back. Reduce his terror radius to 28 or perhaps even the original 24 meters and give him a non-directional humming huntress equivalent sound outside that with him whistling some western or Irish tune.

That's it for the buffs. Finally I'd like to propose a small nerf to the chain of The Redeemer. In my experience it's way too hard for the survivor to break off if you catch them in the open with no objects to use. I think the struggling on the chain w/ out any props to break off of should progress slightly faster in general, with the object collision break being left alone.

And that's all. I think for the most part everything else about him is good as is. *Maybe* it would be nice if The Redeemer projectile was a tad faster so a longshot is harder to dodge. You can kinda only get those if you're lucky or the survivor isn't even trying to dodge and is just W-ing foward in a straight line. Although that might be best left alone as that's probably the intended drop off at range.

Vets and fellow newbies alike, please let me know what you think.

P.S. I copy pasted this from my post on the reddit just because I figured it might get more interaction on here.

Comments

  • HeehoRacketeer
    HeehoRacketeer Member Posts: 90
    edited July 2022

    So from what I remember about the nerf, it boiled down to this:

    -quickscoping was near impossible to counter and with no need to ADS before firing at close range was an almost guaranteed spearing.

    -the smaller TR combined with Monitor and Abuse lead to abuse with the TR being smaller than Deathboi's max range

    Now about your proposition:

    -Minor speed increase while Redeemer is unloaded

    I can see this being basekit. Making him more of a 4.5 while unloaded, with the speed increase kicking in once any cooldowns/animations have gone their course. With such a small increase there's no real reason to lock it behind an addon (like with Huntress). I do approve of this.

    -Giving Deathboi a lullaby of his own

    This should have honestly been a thing that was addressed since this would solve the issue without gutting the guy (since M&A doesn't affect the lullaby's area).

    -Redeemer chain breaking faster while speared in the open

    This doesn't fully make sense. The way the chain breaking works is that struggling against it is putting strain on the chain, the same for it colliding with an object/terrain. With nothing to obstruct the chain, it somehow breaking faster with nothing against it aside from survivor resistance doesn't work out. Instead, what about making the reeling speed a bit slower? We're talking about a dude who can pull a fully grown human, who is actively struggling against him, with a small chain attached to a crude spear. With a slower reeling speed, this would give survivors more time to struggle and eventually break away and fulfil the same end goal.

  • RpTheHotrod
    RpTheHotrod Member Posts: 1,891

    The whole point of it being difficult to break the chain in the open is, well that is the point. When going up against a deathslinger, it's all about positioning yourself appropriately. Getting caught out in the open is essentially punishment for giving the killer the opportunity and ignoring your defenses (line of sight breaks for the chain). I don't think the chain needs a nerf for people being in the open. That would just encourage lazy and inefficient gameplay from the survivors since they are at less risk.

  • RonMan32
    RonMan32 Member Posts: 413

    Fair enough actually. I guess I'm just not a very good killer because I feel guilt when I catch them like that. But that's just me not just playing the game right. It's not an unfair situation I'm just bad at not worrying about the survivor's fun. Which is not something any killer should be responsible for. To play to win for your own fun and so do they. That said I can't get over it sometimes. That's a good addendum to my concept. Completely cut out the chain nerf.

  • RpTheHotrod
    RpTheHotrod Member Posts: 1,891

    Aye, poor player play punishment is part of just about any game. BHVR themselves made jolt have no cooldown, as survivors playing in a poor way that puts survivors in a chain downing spree punishes them by jolt knocking down gens multiple times. Also the same in Chess, if they leave a valuable piece unprotected, they get punished by having the piece taken.

    The game works both ways. It's not just what the opponent is doing, but also what you are doing.

  • RonMan32
    RonMan32 Member Posts: 413

    Yeah I dunno. The redeemer might be mostly fine as is. After some reflection I would like them to make the ADS a LITTLE quicker. But yeah slightly slower base reeling speed might be the plan. Or maybe the speed changes slightly, with that change being more dramatic the longer the shot is. As in when you shoot a survivor at the max range it starts of slow and ramps up until the meter is finished. With closer shots having a faster ramp up due to the less chain to go through. Idk maybe that's needlessly complex.

    Glad you like the speed increase while keeping The Redeemer unloaded though! And yeah a Deathslinger whistling lullaby equivalent would be really creepy and serve to roll back that terror radius change in the perfect way.

  • RonMan32
    RonMan32 Member Posts: 413

    As an addendum to this concept I'd like to completely remove the easier to break chain while also noting perhaps all the way back to 24m for the TR is too much and would propose the 28m I mentioned as the sweet spot. Slightly speeding up the ADS at base is probably a good call. Just a little so he feels better to use and survivors aren't just able to start wiggle strafing way before the shot can even be taken.

  • DoritoHead
    DoritoHead Member Posts: 3,546

    I actually don’t think a lullaby is a good idea for Deathslinger.

    If you see someone far away as Huntress or Trickster, you can potentially do damage to them and this is why they have a lullaby radius larger than their terror radius. Deathslinger is the only ranged killer with a hard limit on his power’s range.

  • RonMan32
    RonMan32 Member Posts: 413

    I'd imagine it would be the smallest lullaby in the game. I just figure him whistling would be cool and it would keep the new intended functionality of the nerfed TR without it actually being a huge TR anymore. Maybe not a good fit but I personally dig the idea. With or without it tho his TR could use a shrink imo.

  • Yords
    Yords Member Posts: 5,781

    Just give him a donkey to ride around the map so he has better map pressure.

  • AnneBonny
    AnneBonny Member, Alpha Surveyor Posts: 2,252

    i main slinger, honestly i think he just needs a 28/24 meter lullaby/tr and an add-on pass